Robin Scott-Elliot

I came across this "novel about real people and real events" in a most unusual way. After a year in lockdown from the Covid-19 pandemic, much of the West End of Glasgow had become all too familiar as I tramped the streets on daily walks; I am therefore not alone in venturing down back lanes, into bin stores, &c., to vary the route. I was familiar with the sandstone curtain wall that had surrounded the Maryhill Barracks across from the Maryhill Police Office, less familiar with the housing estate built within the wall. On a lockdown walk exploring the estate I spotted a large plaque in the lobby of a block of high-rise flats (60 Glenfinnan Road) -

"The plaque is to commemorate Lieutenant Colonel William Herbert Anderson VC, 12th Battalion - Highland Light Infantry - to whom was awarded the Victoria Cross for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the Great War 1914-1918. On 25/3/18 at Bois Favières, near Maricourt, France, when the enemy attack had penetrated a wood on the right of his line and there was grave danger that the flank of the whole position would be turned, Lt. Colonel Anderson gathered together the remainder of his two companies, counter-attacked and drove the Germans from the wood, capturing 12 machine guns and 70 prisoners. Later the same day, Lt. Col. Anderson led another counter-attack which resulted in the enemy being driven from his position, but the Lt. Colonel died fighting within enemy lines. Lt. Col. William "Bertie" Anderson was one of four brothers from Lansdowne Crescent in the West End of Glasgow, who served in the HLI in WW1. They were all killed. A novel, "The Way Home", written by Robin Scott-Elliot, Bertie's great-grandson was published in 2007 telling their story. William Herbert Anderson is buried in Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, France. His Victoria Cross is on display at the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in the Imperial War Museum, London. The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour 'in the face of the enemy'. "

On my return from that walk I ordered Robin Scott-Elliot's book. It takes the form of letters between members of the Anderson family and a bereavement journal kept by the mother of the four boys, with various official letters and newspaper reports. Right from the start the reader knows the brothers will be picked off one by one; "The Way Home" explores their characters, how they respond and adapt to the war and to the untimely deaths of their brothers, the experience of trench warfare, and how the family responds to the unfolding, numbing tragedy. It is both a tender homage to the author's forebears and well worth reading.… (mehr)